


Dr Jacob Peralta

by Thatweird_fangirl



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21738391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatweird_fangirl/pseuds/Thatweird_fangirl
Summary: Jacob Peralta is a secret genius who has been hiding his true self, until one day he's tired of not being himself.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 5
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

Jacob Peralta unbeknownst to his friends and coworkers was a genius. He graduated highschool at the age of 8 and finished college at 11 only to get his doctorate at 15. He has an IQ of 198. His mother never understood why he never told anyone but it was a combination of reasons, one of them being is that he doesn’t like how people have treated him in the past when they have known about his intellect and he has suffered relentless bullying no matter where he is. Once he had his doctorate he decided that he would never tell a soul about his intellect again, instead focusing on how to better his mind. He learned languages and complicated mathematical processes, he read the classics and by the time he was 18, he went back to college, with kids his age and for the first time since he could remember he blended in, he fit in. He spent the next 3 years of college studying both the subject and the kids around him. He then found his new passion, people watching, trying to understand the connections between people and their actions and he was fascinated, with that he knew what he wanted to be, what to do with his life. He joined the academy, came top of his glass and graduated at the top of the academy. Somebody once made the mistake of putting Dr on one of his certificates and he asked if they could change it for personal reasons, he got a funny look but the man changed it and it never happened again. He made detective and his life was on track, he would focus on expanding his knowledge after work and on his days off he would go to the park to play chess, go to the college where he is allowed to work in one of their spare rooms and sometimes assist in teaching. He was content with where his life is going and he was happy for it to keep on going in that direction.

It was May when everything would change, there was a killer on the loose and he was smart, using extremely difficult mathematical problems to indicate where his next victim would be. He was taunting them and Jake knew he could solve it if they would just leave the room for 30 minutes but Amy and Holt were just so damned determined that they could do this and he shook his head, fools he thought. He walked over to Ginas desk, the only person who knew about his intellect since she lived next door to his nana. She was part of the reason that he is able to interact with people how he is.

She walked through the conference room door and straight to the bored displaying the problem, took a picture and turned around and at both of their confused and annoyed looks she shrugged and said “I have a friend who is a genius” and walked out, sending the picture to Jake. He tried to walk out of there calmly but knew he wasn’t doing a good job when both Sarge and Boyle looked up at him. He had all this energy, an excitement he hadn't felt in awhile. He ran to the college where he has an office, where he wouldn’t be disturbed. Students were looking at him like he was crazy and professors only smiled, knowing of his capabilities and his life as a detective. Once he solved it he sent the result to Gina and he sat in his chair, thinking about the events of the day, the rush of the new problem but at what cost. He could have solved it sooner if he wasn’t so concerned with keeping his secret. He considered dropping hints, showing little bits of his abilities so that people didn’t always think he was stupid. He didn’t have much of a chance to think about it though because Holt was calling him demanding to meet them at the location. They caught the killer.

When he got home, he thought about it a lot and decided to start small, by showing sections of his personality, things that make him comfortable.

He went into work the next day wearing his glasses for the first time in the history of his NYPD career. He usually wore contacts but they were uncomfortable. They were thin circular frames and he could feel everyone looking at him. Just ignore it he told himself. He has been fighting himself for too long. When he looked up Amy quickly looks down blushing, he smiled at that. During the morning briefing Holt stopped when he saw him, but proceeded quickly. Jake decided this was enough for now, deciding to first be comfortable with people knowing about his glasses. He got some teasing every now and then and he considered going back, just wearing the contacts and forgetting about his stupid idea but Gina assured him that they weren’t bullying him just teasing him and that all he had to do was smile and nod. He has done just that and she was right.

He wasn’t very good in social settings no matter how hard he works at it. He relied heavily on the people around him to determine how to act and react.

It was a couple weeks later when he came in with a news paper, once again causing everyone to look at him, for Holt to do a double take and for Amy's jaw to drop. He sat at his desk as he was half an hour early and read the paper. He could feel everyone staring at him and it made him uncomfortable but he just kept going. He bought a paper in everyday until people stopped staring at him.

A month after he was deciding to slowly let his personality out, he got a call from the college, desperate for somebody to teach a class. Usually it wasn’t a big deal but it was so close to finals. He rubbed a han across his forehead and sighed, trying to think it through. He wanted to do this, spend a week doing something else that he loves. He told them he would do it and hung up. Now it was just time for Holt to approve. He justified that he could just ask to go somewhere for a few hours a day then just come right back.

“Captain can I speak to you?” He asked from the doorway. Holt indicated for him to sit. “I’m going to need to the freedom this week to disappear for a few hours each day”

“Why would that be, Peralta?” He asked, resting his glasses delicately near his lips.

He didn’t know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to his mind “I’m going to some college classes” He knew how it sounded, like he was attending a college class.

“Very well Peralta. I’m quite shocked that you're going back to college. I must say that I am impressed.”

Jake nodded, smiled and then left the room. Grabbing his bag and jacket and heading out.

That was one of the most intellectually challenging weeks he has had in a while. This caused him to think about whether he was doing the right thing. If he taught at the college more days, he would be able to work more on the stuff he loved, he would gain the money so that he could buy his mom a nice place to live and when he is old, retire comfortably. Because even though he told everybody he was in crushing debt, it was quite the opposite, he was financially stable and even owned his home. Holt already thought that he was attending college so he knew it could work.

He decided he was going to make it work. He also decided he was tired of hiding his true self.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am using the tv show as a guide for the genius bits. The episode in this chapter is 1x02.

On June 12th they would all be assigned a case that would change Jake’s life forever and everybody's understanding of him. Due to the high media coverage the case had everybody was ordered to drop all current cases and cover this one. Holt being the primary due to his high ranking, Terry as secondary and so on. Somebody had made the Governor's daughter sick, a targeted attack and they were there to assist in anyway they could.

He walked into work, as he has done for the past month, glasses, paper and coffee. He was halfway reading about more budgeting costs when the Captain summoned them all into the briefing room, morning briefing was earlier than usual and he frowned. It wasn’t like their Captain to break a habit he has had for years now. He sat in his usual seat, next to Santiago and when he sat down she smiled at him and he returned it. Gina was sat in front of him next to Rosa and Boyle was sat behind him whispering excited about something food related he was sure. He was focusing on more important things, like the tenseness of Holts shoulders, his slightly pursed lips and the slight furrow of his brows. Something was wrong, Jake clasped his hands on the table and leaned forward slightly, he could see Santiago looking at him from the corner of his eye and Gina could see him lean forward due to the way she always sat slightly sideways on her chair. She has always been helpful to him, helping him understand the world and so she took it upon herself to always try and keep an eye on him, he was at risk of exploding at any minute. He has always struggled to translate the world.

“We have a high priority case” Holt started “this is all of our top priority, we are pausing investigating all other cases in favour of this one and this order is coming from the commissioner himself” Holt pressed a button and an image showed up. “Somebody has targeted the governor and intentionally spread a disease throughout the household. It is up to us to find the person who has done this. Any questions?” Holt asked. The room remained silent, trying to think about what was happening and how it could have happened. Jake knew all about this stuff, he had read a series of books about said subject a year ago and thanks to his photographic memory and his high IQ.

The team was packing away their stuff, all getting ready to head over to the governor's house. Gina grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to the windows.

“Jake how are you feeling?” She asked, he could clearly see the worry on her eyebrows.

“It's just like any other case, I don’t see why I should be feeling any different.” He said, face down.

“Jake this is a sick kid, this is no time to hide you intellect, if you believe you can help you help you hear me?” When he nodded she continued. “I’m going to speak to Holt and ask about tagging along, feeling like I could be useful somehow.” He nodded again, knowing that Gina is going to be extremely useful towards his people skills in this case.

They all piled into 2 cars, there was Holt and Terry in the front, discussing the logistics of the case, discussing what they should probably expect. There was Santiago, Gina and himself in the back. Gina on her phone as usual, Santiago listening intently to what Holt and Terry were discussing and he was staring out the window, thinking, he was always thinking about everything. He could rarely shut his mind off, a blessing and a curse.

When they pulled up outside the house of the governor, he noticed the armed men, unusual for the governor, then he saw a CDC van. He could feel Santiago's eyes on him. When they first stepped through the door, they all stopped and saw that there was a small child in the bed, a plastic bubble surrounding her. He walked forward slightly, looking around. The governor was telling them about his kids illness, she had tested negative for everything except a common cold. Jake furrowed his brows and took a step back, looking at the high bookshelves. Next thing he knew they were walking to the room where the sick girl was and he was looking at a laptop with the repeating message “you made her sick” over and over again. There was a computer tech guy on it, and Jake could see from the code that the guy was using was horrid, barely coding at all and Jake felt his annoyance rising. This guy was potentially going to ruin any evidence they had. Gina put an arm on his hand and before Jake knew what he was doing he was standing over the tech guy saying “are you an idiot?” the guy looked up at him as well as everyone else in the room, everybody's mouth was hanging down.

“Excuse me?” The tech guy said.

“I said are you an idiot?”

“Detective Peralta” Holt said, ready to walk forward before Gina beat him to it stepping up to Jake.

“Jake think about your words” She whispered.

He rolled his shoulders back, taking a deep breath, “the code you are using is that of a first grader, you are damaging whatever evidence there is and quite frankly maybe you should go back to school because you obviously didn’t do well”

The tech guy stood up and was an inch away from his face. Jake however, pushed him aside and sat down in his seat already typing away.

“Detective Peralta I suggest you get out of that seat and back to the precinct before I take that badge away from you” Holt was walking forward but Jake ignored him. “Detective do as I say” Holts voice was rising. Jake looked up, everyone was fine, everybody who would have come into contact with the girl was fine, she was the only one who was sick. He stood abruptly and walked over to the bubble, and with a sharp object slit a massive hole in the bubble.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Holt scream as well as the governor. The rage in Holts eyes was like nothing he has seen before.

“We can’t get it, she is the only one who is ill despite how many people have come in contact with her. The virus was aimed at her, she's the only one who could get it.”

“And what the hell do you think gives you the right to make that decision,” Holt said, his voice low, he was face to face with Jake, an inch apart. This was a Captain who was pissed.

“Due to the fact that I am smarter than anybody else in this room” he heard a few scoffs and he snapped “you can scoff all you want but I’m certain that nobody else in this room as an IQ of 198 and a doctorate so if you do feel free to contradict me but if you don’t sit the hell down and let me work” and with that he stormed out, Gina following hot on his heels. Everybody else left stunned.

“Jake, Jake!” Gina was yelling at him, running after him down the street. He stopped and turned around “That was not the way to speak to Holt and you owe him an apology” She said “he didn’t know and you cannot be angry at him for that. Jacob you cannot belittle people for not being as smart than you, you know how that turns out.” He nodded, “You need to take the time to explain things to them, like you always do with me, you take a breath and you take the time to explain things.” He nodded. “Come on kiddo, let's catch a cab back to the precinct.”

Once they were back, he ran to his computer and Santiagos, running software he had programmed when he was younger inorder to triangulate where the email was sent, he bought the whiteboard out from the briefing room and started to write his algorithms on it. Gina was waiting by the elevator, ready to stop Holts pursueall of Jake. The elevator doors opened and before they could all get a foot out, Gina was shoving them all back in.

“Gina what are you doing?” Holt demanded.

“You are all about to see Jake in a way you have never seen him before.” They all rolled their eyes. “What he said back there is true, Jake has an IQ of 198 and because of his high IQ he has a very low EQ.” She looked at Holt, “yelling at him will get you nowhere, you have to explain to him what he had done wrong otherwise he will keep doing it.”

“Gina I don’t know what you and Jacob are playing here but I suggest you move out of my way” and with that they all stormed off of the elevator and was heading towards Jake.

“Peralta” Holt yelled, Jake ignored him, instead stuck in the computer, running the algorithm, he was close. Gina rushed forward, between Jake and Holt and put up a finger to the Captain and turning around to Jake.

“Jacob.” She said gently, lightly touching his shoulder, he looked up with slightly hazy eyes, he was close to being lost down the rabbit hole, she sighed. “I think it's time you explain to everyone about you secret.” He nodded.

“But the code is running” he said like a small child.

“And the code will still be running when you get back” she said back.

Jake stood up and faced the group of people who were looking at him with anger and confusion.

“Hello” everybody rolled their eyes at him and Gina let out a puff of laughter “My name is Dr Jacob Peralta, I graduated high school at the age of 8, got my doctorate at 15 and I have an IQ of 198 making me the 3rd highest recorded IQ in the world.” Everybody was staring at him, mouths open and he was deeply uncomfortable. Looking to Gina she took over.

“Any questions?” Gina said.

“So many” Amy said.

“Why did you tell anybody?” Asked Boyle.

“I haven’t told anybody since I was 15 because people are mean and like to take advantage of me,” he said, brutally honest.

They heard a beeping in the background and suddenly Jake was a different person, typing away crazily on his computer and then running around to Santiagos.

“Jacob here struggles deeply with how to act properly around people, so a lot of the time you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Now that you guys know, it's your job to help him when he isn’t acting appropriately but to also not snap at him, get bored by him and to treat him how you usually would.” Gina stated for them.

Jake was grabbing his jacket and was about to head out but was stopped by Gina. “Use your words Jake” She said.

He seemed restless, full of energy “I know somewhere that uses the same code as the one in the email and I’m going to go check it out.” He said.

“Do you think you should go alone?” She asked and after much thought he shook his head no. “Santiago and Terry will go with you” and with that they were all heading back out, still stunned into silence.

They got to the warehouse and when they walked in, they were suddenly surrounded by the noise of clicking keyboard keys and at least 40 people typing away. Jake looked around. “Terry announce were police and tell everybody to stop” Terry done as he was told and everybody froze, everybody except one and suddenly they were chasing him before Jaze tackled him harshly to the ground.

After getting the information needed they headed back to the precinct, three other people had been targeted. Jake walked back to his whiteboard and added the new information. Before turning around to the eyes that have apparently been staring at him since they found out. He wanted Gina, her stare wasn’t like their and once he found her eyes he spoke aloud. “I know how they did it” He said, everybody stood up and walked over to him, “It's called biohacking, relatively new.” Everybody was looking at him he could see the confusion on their faces. “You do it by scanning somebody's DNA finding weaknesses in it and taking advantage of these weaknesses designing a special bug that targets those weaknesses alone. Then you expose the illness to them and because they alone have the weakness nobody else would get it.” He explained to the group, he saw subtle nods and quickly went back to his computer, continuing what he was doing, hacking into a bio firm that the governor worked for a few years ago. Once he got the names of everybody who would want to harm him. It didn’t take him long before he had the person mostly likely. He was on a roll.

They had caught the guy a few hours later, trying to kill the governor. When he was packing everything up, he could still feel eyes on him and walked over to Gina, kneeling down and whispering to her. “They're all staring at me, have been all day” He said.

Gina sighed, “what do you expect kiddo, they haven't seen you like this before, this is all new to them.”

“How do I make them stop staring at me?” He asked.

“You show them the real you.” She said back.

He nodded. He could understand that reasoning.

“Invite them round to dinner at yours, where they are able to see you in your natural habitat, invite them to sit in on one of your college classes. Involve them.” Gina encouraged.

He looked at the time, it was only 6pm. He cleared his throat loudly and people looked at him “if you would like, you are more than welcome to come to my home tonight for dinner and I promise to answer any questions that you have.” He said, people nodded showing they got the invitation and suddenly he was nervous. His home looked like that of a crazy person and so he left so that he would have time to tidy up a bit after his last study coma.

At 7:30 there was a knock on his door, surprised to see the entire squad there and Kevin. He stepped aside to let them into his home.

Amy Santiago was shocked to say the least, he had a bookshelf full of books and she could see from the titles they were all very academic. His apartment was spotless, not a stain anywhere in sight. He had a white board again the wall where there was some math she would have to guess. He had a small TV opposite the sofa. It was nice, clean and almost homey. He was just missing some of the things a home usually had, such as small ornaments from years of growing up. Photos, things like that.

Jake was stood nervously by his white board watching as his friends looked around the room, Boyle obviously went to the kitchen, he could hear his sounds of approval when he found the produce in the fridge and spices in the cupboards. Holt and Kevin went to his bookshelves, nodding approval and Terry and Rosa stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, observing. Amy walked up next to him and just stood there, it was obvious she was feeling awkward and he smiled.

“What's that on the whiteboard” She asked and she watched his eyes light up which led to a 15 minute explanation of the complex math problem that he had been spending his free time on. When he finished his explanation, he turned back around and the excitement was clearly in his eyes and they were all smiling at him. He looked around at all of his friends and for the first time in many years he had been working with them he felt like himself. He was becoming himself again.


End file.
